


Interstellar pen pals, I guess.

by Awsumatid



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Androgynous Aliens, Kid Fic, M/M, POV Alternating, Pen Pals, Slow Romance, kind of, sleep drugs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-10-31 03:30:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17841623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awsumatid/pseuds/Awsumatid
Summary: Spock and kirk are pen pals, except they don't know each other's name. They don't even know what planet the other is on. But since when has that stopped anyone?I'm not a great writer, but I hope you give me a chance anyway.Also, i tagged it as a kid fic but its more like, it starts in childhood and goes from there.





	1. Chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> I lost a bunch of progress because I'm posting this on a phone. I tried to replicate it. I don't really know why I'm writing this, and my brother will kill me if he ever finds out.  
> I was too embarrassed to ask for help writing this from my writer friends, so I'd appreciate any comments. Also, if Leo is reading this, he needs to stop.

He was having a really hard time paying attention in class. There were so many distractions. Access to the internet meant that his mind could be almost anywhere. He wanted to be talking to his pen-pal, not learning some dumb dead language.

 The school had set up a pen-pal system, where students from other star systems could connect to share ideas and cultures, or whatever. Honestly, Jim wasn’t really paying attention back when they were talking about it.

 He had a new message from his pen-pal. He had seen the icon blinking at lunch, but was too busy to answer it. Now, though, he couldn’t stop thinking about what it might say.

 His pen-pal’s messages were usually very long, taking full advantage of the character limit and the time it took for messages to send. They always said exactly what they needed to, and prompted conversation in return. It wasn’t quite like his partner liked to talk, more so that he liked to be efficient when he did so.

 His last message was sent over two terran days ago, and read like a scientific report on various flora and fauna. It appeared that his pen-pal’s current fascination was with botany. Last week, it was with philosophy. The week before, terran sea mammals. 

 Jim always read each message with rapt attention. He wasn't as interested in the subjects as his pen pal, but he had a curiosity for the world, and he cared to know what his pen pal was so fascinated by.

 Jim was not allowed to ask the name of his pen-pal. His teachers said that both students were not to discuss “personal information” and wrote a list of things they could not share.

 Everyone else had already stopped corresponding with their pen-pals, but Jim and his pen-pal seemed to be stuck fast. He had tried to ask his name, but received a two-page essay on following the rules of elders and when it was okay to disobey. Jim’s pen-pal could get a little carried away sometimes.

Jim could get carried away reading the messages, to a planet in another star system, with hot sand underneath him.

 Even though Jim should have been practicing pronouncing the French “r”, he opened his correspondence.

~*~

 Spock had initially not been keen on the pen-pal project, in part because he knew he was to be assigned a pen-pal from the sol system. He thought it was a waste of his time, but his mother convinced him that it was very important for a young scientist to learn how to talk to a variety of audiences, and so he began a correspondence.

 He didn’t regret that he was not allowed to share “personal information” with his pen-pal, because it was a logical precaution to ensure the safety of the students in the program, and it would be silly for a Vulcan to regret things they cannot change.

 Still, he wondered what planet his pen-pal lived on, wondered what the seasons were like, wondered if he would ever go there.

 It took a while for the messages to send across space. Not as long as traditional mail would, but long enough that attempted instant messaging would feel awkward. His human pen-pal also seemed to have a different schedule, so it made the most sense to draft his messages like letters.

 His pen-pal, apparently, did not understand this, because he would often receive short messages, spread apart, and sporadic in thought. They always answered each of his questions, and usually prompted new ones, and Spock found he was not too annoyed by his partner’s typing style.

There weren’t many of his peers participating in the program, but the few who did had stopped, saying that they did not care for their illogical conversation partners. Spock’s partner was prone to emotional outburst, and was quite illogical at times, however, he brought ideas Spock would never have thought of, and he did not judge him like the others would.

 No, he liked his pen-pal, and would not have even thought to regret participating in the program.

~*~

Jim had been corresponding with his pen-pal for a long time. Other friends came and went but he continued to participate, even as the app lost it’s creator’s support and stopped updating. He had been on his way home from school when he decided to spend some time outdoors.

 Lately, his pen-pal had been fascinated with space. Jim would receive walls of text, broken up with links to published articles and anecdotes about his pen-pal’s life. They had been talking more and more about personal matters. It was hard for Jim not to trust him, even though he could not put a name or face to he description of his friend.

He realized, then, that the rules never said anything about pictures. He snapped a photo of himself, smiling and leaning on a tree. He could respond to the message later, but he decided to send the picture right then.

 Almost as soon as he did, he saw a notification that his penpal was typing. He chuckled and put his device away, then started walking home again.

~*~

 Spock wanted to see the stars. If that happened to include the Sol system, then that was just a lucky coincidence. After years of looking at his feet he realized that there was an infinite universe of discoveries right over his head, and he was drawn in by the possibilities.

He had been receiving pictures from his pen-pal lately. Sometimes of his pen-pal, sometimes of “a cool rock” or “a weird bug”. Spock felt like he was intruding. He had never met the boy, and yet he was privy to so much information about his private life and studies. He felt like he could write a book, and now he even had a cover.

His pen-pal was gorgeous. Spock would never say it out loud, but it wasn’t like he could say it out loud to him, anyway. When he saw the first picture, he typed his  second shortest message.

“That is a very aesthetically pleasing human.”

He was met with about a dozen replies asking him to knock it off, that he was being embarrassing until the message frequency slowed and he received "...really?" As a reply. He fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"Of course"


	2. Chapter deux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The author finally introduces a conflict.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I’ve been learning more about star trek and writing and such and so if there are some things from earlier chapters that are later contradicted, please think of it as a… retcon. Also, thank you so much to the people who commented on the last chapter! I doubt I would have posted this if it weren’t for them. They really inspired me to keep going. I’d appreciate comments on this chapter as well, they help me improve and stay motivated.   
> I have no beta or anything like that, so it might be a jumbled mess and I'll be cringing tomorrow morning. Either way, I hope you enjoy, thanks for reading!

The Lcars display could be a bit… finicky. The programs would sometimes change if you asked in a different way. Spock never really had a problem with this, but he’d received many complaints from his pen-pal. His pen-pal seemed a bit traditional. Traditional taste in music, women, cars, and apparently even user interfaces.

Spock understood it as a logical fallacy. “naturalness bias”. His pen-pal seemed to favor things that were older, when there was no meaningful distinction or even when the new version was objectively better. It seemed to be contradictory to his goals of exploration, discovery, and their shared love of space. He would also, sometimes, tease Spock about his human heritage.

Spock supposed it was to be expected, since his pen-pal had reportedly “never met a vulcan before!” and therefore would react differently to his mannerisms than any of his other peers. It couldn’t be helped that it was a bit… disappointing. Spock accepted this, and moved forward.

Lately, his pen-pal had been acting abnormally. It had started with the pictures. Spock didn’t even know pictures could be sent, but he was receiving them daily from his pen-pal. Things like chairs, decorations, food, and of course, pictures of his pen-pal.

But it didn’t stop there.

Spock would often find messages sent from times his pen-pal would normally have neem asleep. They would say a variety of things, from things off the top of his pen pal’s head, to sentimentalities like “I miss you” (even though they’d never actually met) and “wish you were here”. Why would his pen-pal want a stranger in his bedroom late at night?

Spock had even been consulted for dating advice. Why would his pen-pal assume that he knew more about human relationships? His only relationship was his friendship with his pen-pal, and his only knowledge of romance came from poetry, literature, rituals and observing his parents.

It wasn’t that large of a stretch, though. Spock’s pen-pal made a habit out of consulting him for advice. He often joked that spock was his “right hand man” and that he “wouldn’t know what to do without” him. He would admit, if pressed, that they did seem to make quite the team.

~*~

Jim was bummed out. He was on a date with a very pretty girl. She seemed very interested in him, too. How unfortunate.

See, Jim wasn’t really feeling it. He’d dated before, and even had a good time with it, but lately none of his rendezvous were engaging. He tried to convince himself he wasn’t just trying to make his pen-pal jealous, and passed his daydreams off as intrusive thoughts.

Sometimes, he’d look through their chat logs and cringe. He was definitely coming on too strong. It was surely only a matter of time before his pen-pal said something about it. He didn’t think he could take a lecture on the woes of long-distance relationships or about how they were actually strangers.

Though he didn’t always admit it, his pen-pal was his best friend. It hurt to see him say that they were mere strangers, even if it were technically true. He would try not to think about it, and focus on his date. Maybe he could even play his spacing off as something charming, like being lost in her eyes.

~*~

Spock was in a bad mood. He would probably like to take that knowledge to his death bed if possible, but he knew he was supposed to accept his feelings and make peace with them.

There was just one problem.

He didn’t know why he was in such a bad mood. Usually, he found receiving his pen-pal’s pictures to be a pleasant experience, but lately he’d be left soured by them. Maybe it was the girl who was in most of the offending images. There was nothing wrong with her. Her facial features were not disconcertingly asymmetrical, she was not doing anything offensive in any of the pictures. Quite the contrary, she was making his pen-pal smile. So why did he hold such animosity towards his pen-pal’s girlfriend?

~*~

Jim was sure his pen-pal was flirting with him. He didn’t really think he would. He’d started flirting on a whim one tired night, and to his surprise, the following messages were responsive to it. He’d even received flirtatious content apropos of nothing.

Hell, his pen-pal even seemed a bit possessive of him, and he seemed very glad when he broke up with his girlfriend.

He had begun playing online chess with his pen-pal. The terms of service on the configuration prohibited exchange of personal information, and of course his pen-pal read each and every page.

It was nice to be able to do something other than chat. He felt so thrilled when he managed to beat his pen-pal the first time. He challenged him in a way no other person really had. They were surprisingly even matched, and he made sure to ask if his pen-pal was going easy on him.

“Of course not. I see no benefit to either of us if I were to ‘go easy on you’.”

“are you sure?”

“Vulcans do not lie.”

~*~

Spock wanted to know everything about his pen-pal. He wanted to know his name, he wanted to know what planet he lived on, he wanted to know his favourite song, flower, bird, anything. Every time he learned something new he found he wanted to know more.

His desire could be intimidating. He didn’t even notice it at first, but he began actively suppressing it. Meditation would not help as he could not get closure. He was not practicing stoicism, he was frankly suppressing his emotions. It was unwise, it was ill-advised, it was _human_.

He could not demand such things of a stranger.

He’d been playing aggressively lately. He’d also been winning. A lot.

~*~

Jim didn’t get to tell his pen-pal about his dreams of being a starship captain. He wasn’t allowed on his PADD anymore. It really sucked, too, because arguably that was the time he needed it most. It was probably sitting in some kind of pawn shop on some planet he’d never get to visit. Who knew if the data was still even on the device.

It gave him more time to focus on his studies and become more familiar with analog materials. _as if that really justifies it._

~*~

Spock didn’t regret not exchanging personal information with his pen-pal. Regretting events which are unchangeable would be illogical. At least he knew what his pen-pal looked like.

_But he didn’t even know what planet he was from._

He continued to check for messages from time to time, but he never received any.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it took me two chapters but I finally set up a conflict. Revolutionary, groundbreaking stuff, I know. I'm not sure if I want them to meet in starfleet academy or on board the enterprise... Also, I don't think there was much mention of Kirk's personal history in tos (or if there was I missed it) and my brother still hasn't lent me his copy of The Autobiography of James T Kirk, and I also barely remember the Kelvin timeline movies (other than that I really enjoyed them) so I tried to be really vague, hoping not to conflict any character building aspects of his past. Also, It seems like there's a conflict on whether Spock suppresses and pretends not to have emotions or if he practices some sort of stoicism, but I went for the latter because it makes for a less emotional inner monologue.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is different from the last two. It's basically set up, but I decided to post it now before I forget. Basically, The crew of the enterprise encounter a probe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is written a little more like my normal style, though it still lacks much of the dialect and dialogue that characterizes much of my writing. It's likely to be jarring, but I think its worthwhile to experiment a little. Special thanks to my brother for beta reading, though I went back and changed some things after he read it, so all mistakes are my own. I really appreciate comments, and thank you for reading.

Another escort mission, another dollar. Star fleet command ordered them to pick up the ever-cynical Mr. Lowery and drop him off at the next star base. Lowery stood at an unremarkable height, wearing his blue uniform with the gold patterning at the wrists. His shirt was just a bit short for him, so that his wrists were clearly visable, and if he were to raise his arms, his undershirt would be seen.

 He was still quite young, though his face did not show much of that. Acne scars might’ve been eradicated with the new technology, unless someone was too lazy to get their face healed properly. Maybe that was the cause of the small craters on his face. His thin lips were usually relaxed into a vague frown as he peered at the crew.

 Mr Lowery was quite the fan of literature, or so he’d tell you. If you asked him a question, you’d be just as likely to get a wordy answer as a vague quote from some obscure text. Maybe it was this that made him so confident in his judgement, or maybe it was his blossoming career.

 To the dismay of captain Kirk, he rubbed the crew the wrong way, starting arguments over trivial things and constantly judging. Spock was enjoying a bit of light reading in the mess hall as Mr Lowery glared down at him. Spock looked up from his reading to raise an eyebrow at the man as the rest of the hall watched the exchange.

 “What are you reading?” Mr Lowery asked.

Mr. Spock was reading a passage from a terran classic, The Odyssey, and he told Mr. Lowery as much.

Just as Mr. Lowery opened his mouth, accompanied by an accusatory finger, the ship lurched. Spock kept his passage from slipping as Mr. Lowery stumbled.

“What was that?” He angrily asked.

Spock stood from his seat. “I have matters to attend to elsewhere.”

“You’re avoiding my question.”

Spock tried for a subtly annoyed look and attempted to walk out of the room when Mr. Lowery grabbed his arm.

“Mr. Lowery, I have business to attend to. We can continue this another time, if you so insist.” Spock said, jerking his arm out of the other man’s grasp and walking into the corridor.

Mr. Lowery was fuming. He followed Spock into the corridor, to the turbo lift, and up to the bridge, where he received a few looks from the security staff and bridge crew.

 Captain Kirk was knee-deep in commotion, and was handling it with grace typical to him.

“Mr. Spock, great timing! I need you on that scanner.” He said, ignoring the unwanted addition approaching his chair.

There was a metal object on the view screen. It appeared to be some kind of probe, the design was not too far departed from the engineering style of humans, but it did not align with anything in federation records.

“Captain,” Spock began. “It appears to be an un-manned probe, with irregular energy levels and high amounts of baryon particles, though there is no evidence of an onboard warp drive.”

“Could it have been sent out by another ship?” Kirk asked. Mr. Lowery was right beside the captain’s chair now, glaring at Jim. A yeoman stood behind him, holding an electronic clipboard and impatiently tapping her foot.

“It is possible, captain.” Spock replied.

“Captain!” Uhura called. “I’m picking up a transmission on subspace frequencies. I think it’s coming from that probe.”

“Patch it through, lieutenant.” Kirk said.

“Captain, I have been standing here patiently for minutes and I demand—“ Mr lowery spoke.

“Mr. Lowery, had you not been so busy demanding to talk to me you may have realized the yeoman behind you. Step out of the way or I will have you removed from my bridge.”

Lowery stepped in front of Sulu, giving Kirk full view of his red-face. The crewman gave the captain a grateful look and handed him the clipboard.

“I will not be disrespected like this, captain! Now you simply must tell me what is going on here!” Mr. Lowery said as Kirk finished with the clipboard and handed it off again.

“Uhura, the transmission?” He said, cutting Mr. Lowery off.

“Yes sir, right away” she responded.

 The picture of the probe on the view screen faded away to show the video of the transmission. On the screen was an elaborately decorated room, as if designed by some trigger-happy set designer, and in the foreground there stood two men in loose clothing talking to one another. They faced slightly towards the screen and spoke loudly, using slightly exaggerated movements and facial expressions.

 It couldn’t be certain if this was some sort of play. The men themselves were humanoid, mainly blue but their arms would change color and pattern as the emotions of the scene changed and developed.  Nobody on the crew had encountered a species like this, perhaps the similarity to performance was only superficial coincidence.

“What if the Ibarins  find this?” The alien on the left worriedly said to the other one. “Ibarins never understand us, J’oll.”

“Have you tried, Tsek? How will they know us if we do not try to know them?”

“I have tried my dear, I have worked hard and all I’ve received is shame for myself. And now, in our darkest hours, I can only hope this message will be received by those who can respect and care for it as it deserves.”

“That’s where it ends, sir.” Uhura said, and the message began to loop.

“Cut the feed.” The captain ordered, and the screen returned to showing the probe.

Mr. Lowery stormed off the bridge and into the turbo lift.

“What do you make of it, Mr. Spock?”

“I am not familiar with the species of humanoids in the feed.”

“Can we bring it aboard?”

“It should fit on the transporter pad, captain.”

Kirk pressed a button on his chair. “Scotty, beam the probe aboard.”

“Aye sir.” He replied, hitting buttons and sliding switches.

“Mr. Spock, with me.” The captain said, and nodded towards the turbolift. They both made their way towards the transporter room.

Mr. Lowery was on his way to his temporary quarters when he heard the sound of windchimes. He followed the noise to the transporter room as Kirk and Spock arrived.

“Captain.” Mr. Lowery said in greeting.

Scotty was vocally admiring the probe. Kirk was moving towards it with Spock trailing close behind. Mr. Lowery could no longer focus on his surroundings as his head hammered and an ear-splitting noise filled his mind. He screamed, though he could not hear it. He collapsed on the floor.

“McCoy to transporter room 4” Kirk said, ever quick to react under stress.

~*~

“Doctor, I must speak to the captain.”

“Yes, I know, you’re very upset about something or other, but some of us have actual work to do.”

“No, no, no, listen. I—I’m fine, It was just so sudden is all. The probe transferred a kind of information to me—I’m not quite sure…. But I think it’s co-ordinates. I need to tell the captain.”


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The enterprise is in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all of the comments and Kudos so far. This is the longest chapter yet, and I worked longer on it than all of the others. I hope you enjoy, thanks for reading!

Spock was used to bigotry. He experienced it in his youth, from his Vulcan peers, even from the adults. He was used to it on the Enterprise. Sure, his captain was pretty strict about it, but he couldn’t be everywhere all the time. He wasn’t used to acceptance.

The first time he felt it was from his mother. She supported him, never asked him to change, even when it was logical to. The second time was from his pen-pal. He was not disgusted, merely curious. He thought it was ‘cool’. As he entered star fleet, he met more individuals who treated him with respect. Even Bones, despite what either of them would say, cared about him.

The contrast between his captain and Mr. lowery was stark in the way they treated him. Of course, he wouldn’t have expected his former pen-pal to be anything like the man they were escorting, even though years had passed since they’d last used the service.

Did Jim know? Surely by the ease and familiarity he acted with around Spock was indicative of that prior companionship, and yet neither of them had said anything. Worse still, what if Spock was wrong? Maybe he was misremembering those photos, as some sort of excuse for his attachment to his captain.

They could practically be two different people. Jim had changed since their pen-pal days. He was stronger, wiser, and calmer. He organized his thoughts and put them to good use. He was also devastatingly handsome, which he also used to his advantage in a way he could not imagine his pen-pal ever feeling confident enough to do.

~*~

Jim was having a long day. The new addition to the ship was stirring up trouble. He’d fight with the crew over music, food, movies, games, plays, literature, whatever sort of entertainment came up. Starfleet should have informed him they would be having a media critic on board. It wasn’t just that though, cause when he was done ranting about “the beta timeline” or whatever, he would argue with the senior staff. He was making his way then to the medbay, where he was likely to receive another bout of complaints from the man.

“Mr. Lowery, save us your next hotel snobbery holovid. If you’ve forgotten, this is in fact a starship, not a cruise ship.”

“Captain!” he exclaimed. He then launched into a rant about the probe, how fascinating it was, his theories on how it communicated with him and of course, what it told him.

McCoy just shrugged, and the captain sighed, before telling him they’d look into it. Scotty must have been at the conn at the time. “Kirk to Mr. Scott.”

“Scotty here, captain.”

“Scotty, how far off course are the co-ordinates 23.4 mark 98.3 mark 345?”

There was a pause as Scotty considered this. “That’d be a day’s detour, captain.”

“Set a course.”

Whatever was going on with that probe could wait until they arrived. He was tired, and he went straight to bed.

~*~

Spoke awoke the next morning to a very quiet ship. It had taken him longer to get up than usual, for some reason he was still very tired. He dressed and exited into the corridor, but saw no one walking in any of the halls. Curious.

Again, nobody was on the turbolift, and it made no stops on the way to the bridge. When the doors opened with a whoosh, there were no guards standing by the door. Each member of the bridge crew was slumped over, and he saw lieutenant M’Ress curled up and drooling on the desk where Uhura should be. In fact, everyone on the bridge was from the late shift, snoozing in their seats. Apparently the Enterprise was in a standard orbit around an M-class planet.

Spock pushed aside the officer snoring at his scanner. He detected no anomaly, though he had to pause his scans to suppress a yawn. He picked the command officer up off of the captain’s chair with ease and dumped him on the floor, but he did not wake. “Computer.”

The clicking noises that responded indicated that the computer was listening. “Are there any officers on board this ship that are awake?”

“Affirmative.”

“List them, please.”

“There is one member awake on board the Enterprise: First Officer Spock.” The computer replied, and then the clicks and whirrs died down.

“Thank you, computer.” He said, the computer having confirmed his suspicions. He suspected that the reason he was awake was due to his Vulcan physiology. Whatever was causing the crewmen aboard to slumber did not affect his Vulcan side, causing him only to feel drowsy. He needed to wake someone up, he couldn’t run a ship on his own.

He entered the captain’s quarters after trying the bell. The room was dark enough that he could not see much. “Computer, lights on”

The lights gradually became brighter, revealing a scene to Spock. The blankets were crumpled by the side of the bed, just barely tucked into the bottom of the mattress. Objects were scattered over the floor. A dresser drawer was open, and the captain’s uniform was crumpled by it. The captain himself was nowhere to be seen. Had he been abducted?

“Computer, whereabouts of Captain Kirk.”

“The Captain disembarked to the surface 2 hours and 36 minutes ago from Transporter Room 1.”

No matter who he tried to wake or how he tried, they remained unconscious. Spock knew he didn’t have time to figure out a solution, he needed to get the captain back. He grabbed gear for an away mission and reluctantly left the Enterprise on board a shuttle.

He landed in a small clearing of a forest, hoping that the trees would provide him camouflage. He took out his tricorder and started scanning. The surface of the planet was mostly covered in rain, with large trees providing cover. Unlike a normal rainforest, however, there was no abundance of fauna underneath the canopies. In fact, it seemed the planet had no decomposers. Huge tree trunks lay fallen on the ground, no termites, fungus, or anything to clear them. His scans picked up another clearing with a building, so he headed towards it.

As he moved through the forest, he felt that he was being watched.  As he approached the building, he could hear a mechanical groaning. Before he reached the facility he noticed a large metal tower above the tree line, similar to an old Terran telephone pole without wires.  

He reached the clearing without seeing a single animal, although his scans suggested animal life on the planet. With a hand on his phaser he cautiously moved into the building.

It was small on the outside, but after entering, Spock could see the facility continued underground for quite some distance. Terminal computers were carried through the facility, often incorporated into decorations etched into the walls. They depicted a large humanoid with impossibly long and flowing hair grinning down at what looked to be cryobeds that were all hooked up to a helmet on his head.

As he walked the corridors, searching for any sign of life, he heard more and more machinery. The friction of wheels on hard floor, even soft footsteps, but he did not see anything that would match what he heard. Within the facility, he felt much sleepier. He flicked the display of a terminal on. A video appeared on the screen: A first person view. It followed a nonsensical narrative, and all of the characters were the blue humanoids from earlier, but their arms were not as colorful as they had been in the probe’s transmission. After a while, he switched it off.

He flicked on the one next to it. It looked like a first person view of one of those blue humanoids looking at their arm. It was almost like a story was being told simply through the changing colors. He switched that one off, too.

All of the terminals appeared to be hosting live video feeds, of which the content made little sense and contained at least one blue humanoid. Spock took out his tricorder again and performed a more thorough scan. He was getting high energy readings from lower down in the facility, as well as a frankly staggering amount of life signs for a planet that so far seemed very empty.

He continued onwards until he came to a long hallway. It was lined with terminals like the others, but the further he went down the hallway, the newer they looked, until there was just blank wall. One screen was switched on. He went towards it and saw it had a text field next to the video feed that the others had. It appeared that someone had recently entered in some messages.

They were formatted like commands, and the date and time appeared above them. The video was also interesting. Instead of blue humanoids, the subjects in this video were humans. Specifically, humans from his crew. It looked to be a third person video, since it did not move like someone was looking around, and stayed mostly centered on one individual. They seemed almost dream-like.

Spock heard the wheels and footsteps much louder. He looked around him before deciding to type into the screen. If Spock’s hypothesis was correct, this was Captain Kirk’s dream. He was in a cafeteria, though the dream’s inhabitants kept referring to it as the mess hall. Kirk was center on the screen, talking and laughing with McCoy, Uhura and Janice Rand. Spock decided to type a simple ‘This is a test’.

As he typed, Kirk’s head turned to the entrance of the cafeteria. A dream version of Spock walked through the entrance, wearing a letter jacket. In the real world, Spock pressed enter. Kirk looked around, like someone had called his name but he couldn’t figure out where it came from. Then, He smiled at Dream Spock and motioned him over to his table. _Captain Kirk._ Kirk looked puzzled a bit as Dream Spock walked over to his table.

_Captain, this isn’t real._ Dream Spock sat down right next to Jim, closer than he would have in real life. _Jim, you need to wake up._ “Hey, sweetheart.” Kirk said to Dream Spock.

“Hello yourself.” Dream Spock said. Real Spock was getting frustrated.

_Why am I wearing that jacket?_ “I see you’re wearing my jacket.”

“It’s to show that I’m yours, Jim.” Dream Spock said. _Jim. Wake up._

They leaned closer together. Everyone at the table was smiling. _I do not wish to see this._

Right before their lips met, the screen cut off.

~*~

Jim woke up, startled, eyes wide. That dream…

He immediately noticed his hands and ankles were bound to a slab beneath him in leather-like straps, but with little effort he’d freed himself. He slid off the slab and looked around. Acres and acres of slabs similar to the one he slept on covered the area. Strapped in were sleeping, sickly looking blue humanoids. Behind Kirk was a massive thin dome, with glass on one side. It looked to be full of some liquid, and a giant red alien slumbered inside of it, smiling. Air bubbled out of the large alien’s mouth every few seconds. The dome was hooked up to a large antenna that extended beyond the room’s high ceiling.

There was a large screen hooked up to the dome, with a keyboard large enough for the red alien’s large fingers to type with. Kirk saw now, that every one of the blue aliens looked androgynous. Perhaps he had just assumed the gender of the aliens in the transmission. Their arms still showed the flashing colors, with lots of green swirls. He wondered what it meant.

He heard several sets of footsteps, and ducked beneath a slab. Three red robots entered Jim’s section and clustered around his empty slab. They looked all around themselves, and then they moved to the large computer. Jim had an opening.

He army-crawled to a hallway until he was out of sight. He stood up and walked with light feet down the corridor.

~*~

On board the Enterprise, Nurse Chapel woke up from an embarrassing dream. She then noticed that she had slept leaning on a biobed. Looking around her, she noticed other officers fast asleep around the medbay. She tried to shake them awake, but they would just roll over. She readied a hypospray, a stimulant. She hoped this would wake someone. She went over to the comm.

“Sickbay to the bridge.”

No response. How worrying.

“Sickbay to engineering.”

Still no response. She tried several other locations, but not a soul answered.

“Computer.”

The computer came alive with beeps and mechanical whirrs.

“Is there anyone awake on board the ship?”

“Yes.”

Nurse Chapel let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

“Well where are they?”

“Medical bay.” It responded in a robotic parody of her voice.

She looked around for anyone else awake. She sighed.

“Am I the person awake?”

“Affirmative.”

“Thank you, computer.” She said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. The beeping and clicking stopped.

Her stomach growled. She decided that she would stop by the mess hall before going to the bridge.

~*~

  Spock was getting closer to the source of the energy readings. “Chapel to Mr. Spock.” his communicator sounded off.

He wasn’t expecting anyone to comm him, but he brought the device just in case someone woke up. Apparently, someone had. “Spock here.”

“Commander, everyone on the Enterprise is asleep. The computer said that you and Captain Kirk left the ship. Are you with the captain?”

“Negative. I am searching for him now.”

“Spock, what’s going on?”

“I am beginning to formulate a hypothesis. Nurse, do you remember the dream you had before you woke up?”

“Yes, commander. Why?”

“Tell it to me.”

“Mr. Spock I Ca—” she said, flustered.

“It is important to figuring out how to wake the other crewmen.”

“Oh all right. I dreamt… Well…. I’ll just say it wasn’t something that would ever happen in the real world.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“Mr. Spock, what should I do?”

“Stay on the ship. See if you can wake anyone. Spock out.”

Nurse Chapel sighed and looked at Lieutenant M’Ress’ sleeping body beside her.

~*~

Kirk could hear the robots wherever he walked, so he tried to be quiet. He met a set of stairs and he climbed them. Was his ship okay? How was his crew? Was that Spock?

He saw a figure at the end of the hallway. He could see it was wearing black pants and a blue shirt, with light skin and dark hair. He heard a whisper echo down the hallway. “ _Jim?_ ”

“Spock?” he whispered. “Is that you?”

They hurried towards each other, trying to be quiet.

“Captain, Everyone on board the Enterprise but Nurse Chapel is asleep. It appears this facility is monitoring dreams.”

“Why? How do we wake them up?”

“If I’m correct—Captain!”

Jim turned around to see the group of robots flanking him.

Spock fired his phaser on one of them, but it had no effect. Jim then noticed the robots behind Spock. They were surrounded.

Suddenly, Jim felt very tired. Spock used his strength to incapacitate a few of them, but still more grabbed onto him and his captain. For Jim, it was as if each touch of their robotic limbs was a lullaby or a warm glass of milk. He fell asleep in their arms. Soon, Spock and Kirk were being taken down the hallway, and only one of them struggled in the robotic grip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are really appreciated cause they help me continue posting and writing. Thanks again for reading, and If you have any critique it would be welcome cause I don't really know what I'm doing.


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